Running head: ROLE AND FUNCTIONS OF LAW� � PAGE \* MERGEFORMAT �1� �� ROLE AND FUNCTIONS OF LAW� � PAGE \* MERGEFORMAT �5� ��
Role and Functions of Law
James Teague
LAW421
February 03, 2014
Teresa Anderson
�
�
Role and Functions of Law
Throughout history law has been defined many different ways. A generally accepted generic definition of the law is a body of rules of action or conduct prescribed by controlling authority, and having legal binding force (College, 2011). The most common distinction of the present state of law is that it forms duties, obligations, and rights that echo accepted views of a paticular society. Most of us think of law as piles of legal books full of codes on a giant bookshelf in an attorney's office. To make law easier to understand we need to think of it in a much broader sense.
There are several sources and levels of law in the United States, but the most common is substantive law, procedural law, criminal law, civil law, common law, and statutory law.
U.S. circuit judges Robert Katzmann, Damon Keith, ...
English: Representative John A. Bingham of Ohio, p...
English: 14th Amendment of the United States Const...Substantive law gives individual citizens rights and creates certain duties within the community, while Procedural laws give a guide line and a set of rules for following substantive rights. Substantive and Procedural laws go hand-in-hand. The purpose of criminal laws is to protect society, when a person or persons violate a criminal law the violator pays a penalty to society of either a fine or imprisonment. You can usually see these laws being enforced on any given day at your local court house. Civil laws are used to pay damages to a person or persons for a loss suffered as a result of another's behavior. It is possible to be found innocent of committing a criminal offense and then found guilty of a related...